HISTORY OF GEOLOGY GROUP “Geology and Medicine: Exploring the Historical Links and the Development of Public Health and Forensic Medicine”
2-4 November 2014 Celebrating the Tercentenary of Sir John Hill
Geological Society, Burlington House, Piccadilly, LondonW1J 0BD
Convenors Professor Richard T. J. Moody, Dr Chris Duffin and Dr Christopher Gardner- Thorpe
The Pharmaceutical use of Lapis lazuli
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CHRISTOPHER J. DUFFIN
Palaeontology Section, Earth Science Department, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, UK, and 146, Church Hill Road, Sutton, Surrey, SM3 8NF, England
[email protected]
Lapis lazuli is a distinctive, rare rock type found in the contact metamorphism of limestones, dolomites and evaporates. Its mineral suite includes Calcite, Pyrite, subsidiary ferromagnesians and feldspathoids and, characteristically, distinctively blue lazurite. By far the most historically important localities were (and still are) in the Late Archaean to Early Palaeoproterozoic Sar-e-Sang Series of the Kokcha Anticline, Badakhshan, NE Afghanistan. Extracted by fire-setting, right into the early 19th century, it is still a hard-won resource involving adit mining into productive seams in almost vertical outcrops in an inhospitable landscape; in 1837, Lieutenant John Wood wrote “If you do not wish to die, avoid the Valley of Kokcha!” Valued in Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean region as a high status decorative and symbolic stone and pigment, Lapis lazuli was an important geopharmaceutical. The Ancient Egyptian Ebers Papyrus (1534 BC) recommends ‘real’ lapis lazuli (i.e. not the Egyptian Blue synthetic glass equivalent) to be mixed with green and black eye paints or ‘kohls’ (based on malachite and galena respectively), crocodile dung and two herbs in a milk base. The mixture was applied to eyes to ‘eliminate stasis of water’ - probably cataracts. To ‘eliminate blood vessels in both eyes’ (conjunctivitis?) Recipe 390 recommends applying a ‘ductile dough’ comprising equal parts of green and black kohls, lapis lazuli, ochre and honey to the eye. One limestone ostracon contains a prescription for hysteria comprising lapis lazuli, ‘green stone’ (malachite), a fumigant, one herb and raisins, all mixed together in a jug of wine; hysteria was supposedly caused by internal movement of the uterus. Medical texts on cuneiform tablets from the Assyrian Ashurbanipal’s library at Nineveh commended Lapis lazuli in eye ointments for complaints caused by ‘the Hand of Ghost’ and, with accompanying incantations, to anoint the ears or be bound to the site of the pain for “emplacement of the intense pain of hand of ghost”. The 13th century Rasaratna Samuccaya and other Ayurvedic texts state that Lapis has rejuvenating, nourishing, appetising, digestive and aphrodisiac qualities, and should be employed for urinary disorders, tuberculosis, haemorrhoids, anaemia, hiccough, vomiting and even alcoholism! The Medicine Buddha (Healing Master of Lapis Lazuli Radiance), father of Traditional Tibetan Medicine, is represented holding a lapis bowl; the rock is esteemed for curing cases of poisoning, disorders of the lymph, and leprosy and is even believed to cure grey hair! In the Western tradition, Lapis was recognized as being toxic and was subjected to heating and numerous washes in order to render it useful; even so, it was still a powerful purge and emetic. Dioscorides (c. 40-90 AD) states it is good for scorpion stings, internal ulcers and growths on the eye, while the Hortus Sanitatis (1491) suggests that it cures tumours in children, epilepsy, headache, vertigo and melancholy. Popular throughout the 16th to early 18th century, it was also used in eyewashes, anti-venereal pills, against madness and leprosy, among many other conditions. The Lapidario of Alfonso X (c. 1250) commends its use in vaginal pessaries in order to provoke menstruation and, mixed with water and applied to the scalp, supposedly makes one’s hair curl!
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Above: Figure 1. The Medicine Buddha, Bhaishajyaguru Vaiduryaprabha, or the Healing Master of Lapis Lazuli Radiance. Gouache, late 18th century. Wellcome Library, London.
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Left: Figure 2. Entry for Lapis lazuli from Hortus Sanitatis (1491).
Right: Figure 3. Entry for Lapis lazuli from Alfonso X, Il Lapidario (circa 1250).
